A body and car have been found in a Truckee lake where authorities and dive teams have been searching for 16-year-old missing teen Kiely Rodni for the past two weeks.
LiveCopter 3 footage showed the car being pulled from Prosser Creek Reservoir Sunday evening and tarps were brought out to cover the vehicle. (See video below.)
Law enforcement has not confirmed that the remains are Rodni’s. The Placer County Sheriff’s Office said it was out at the scene to investigate the dive team’s findings along with officials from the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and other agencies.
There will be a press conference Monday at 11 a.m. at the Truckee-Donner Recreation and Park District.
A representative for Rodni’s family told KCRA 3 the family did not have anything to share until it received communication from law enforcement.
The specialty search and recovery dive team called Adventures With Purpose (AWP) started searching for the teen on Friday. They confirmed to KCRA 3 that a matching vehicle description with human remains were found at Prosser Creek Reservoir.
Rodni was last seen on Aug. 6 at a large party with hundreds of like-aged teens at the Prosser Family Campground in Truckee, which is next to the lake. The teen disappeared seemingly without a trace.
Authorities said the last known ping from Rodni’s cellphone was made the same night around 12:30 a.m. near the lake.
At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Adventures With Purpose posted on Facebook about its findings. By 4:50 p.m., KCRA 3 arrived at the scene and saw law enforcement activity there.
The vehicle was taken out of the water around 7:49 p.m.
Adventures With Purpose told KCRA 3 that their team uses sonar, which is likely why they found the car in the same location agencies had been searching with their boats.
Hours earlier on Sunday morning, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said seven personnel were assigned to Rodni’s case. That was down from 73 personnel on Friday. Seven helicopters were searching an 80-mile radius from where Kiely was last seen. About 2,000 tips from the community have been sent to authorities.
The FBI had also added Rodni to their Missing Person Database.
Many members of the community are questioning why it took until Adventures with Purpose to get involved for law enforcement to potentially have an update in their search.
“For them to not be able to find her, it bothers me a little, honestly,” Truckee resident Gitana DeCoulode said. “Why don’t they have the equipment that [Adventures with Purpose] had, to find her? Why? Where we live, we have bodies of water everywhere.”
But others said the task authorities have in front of them is not an easy one.
“I don’t fault law enforcement in any way. I know they put in thousands of hours in searching,” Reno resident Greg Bishop said. Adventures with Purpose just has a specialty. They have the knowledge in reading their sonar equipment.”
| Video Below | Friend of Kiely Rodni hopeful in finding missing teen
Who are the Adventures With Purpose team?
AWP is a search and recovery dive team dedicated to helping families of missing loved ones. According to the team, they have assisted in helping solve 23 missing person cold cases since 2019.
AWP provides services free of charge to families with missing loved ones.
This is a developing story. Stay with KCRA 3 for the latest.
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